The press is making something of several cases of bubonic plague that have popped up in China. I wouldn't get too worried. As an WHO official says, bubonic is around. For example, California has a case or two every year. No kidding.
Bubonic mostly lives in the rodent population - squirrels, rats, voles, etc. It passes to humans when humans are bitten by fleas from an infected rodent.
In CA this most often happens when an unsuspecting child comes across a rodent that is acting "tame," which is to say unafraid. The rodent is actually too sick to flee, but not dead. The kid handles the rodent, is bitten by its fleas, gets sick, and usually is diagnosed in time to cure him or her.
Ailurophobes, take heed. The Bubonic plagues in medieval Europe could mostly have been prevented if many people had kept house cats around to kill rodents.
Sadly, cats were viewed as evil, often as "familiars" of witches, and avoided in those years. Supposed witches were often tried and executed.
